Delivery mechanism for bottlewashing machines



Dec. 12 1950) F. H. FRUIHLING DELIVERY MECHANISM FOR BOTTLE-WASHING MACHINES 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 6, i946 FREDERKI ATTORNEYS All 1, 1950 F. H. FRUHLING DELIVERY MECHANISM FOR BOTTLE-WASHING MACHINES 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 6, l946 INVENT FREDERICK H.FRUHLING ATTORNEYS Patented Dec. 12, 1950 DELIVERY MECHANISM FOR BOTTLE- WASHING MACHINES Frederick H. Fruhling, Milwaukee, Wis., assignor to Continental Equipment Corporation, Milwaukee, Wis.

Application December 6, 1946, Serial No. 714,513

2 Claims. 1 My invention refers to bottle washing or soaking machines, wherein the bottles vary in size and are loaded into pockets of an endless conveyor, the generic principles of such machines being standard and are disclosed in Patent Number 2,024,373.

The primary object of my. invention is to provide a cam controlled bottle loading mechanism having a forwardly pivoted bottle turning trough with a hinged bottle Supporting plate at its forward receiving end, the said turning trough at its free end being normally alined with a valve controlled spray pipe whereby a rinsing fluid jet is discharged into the mouth of a row of bottles.

Thereafter the bottles are raised from the turning trough by reciprocati-ve fingers and thereafter the bottles, by gravity, slide into a horizontally positioned loading trough, which trough is alined with pockets of the intermittently traveling conveyor. The bottles or receptacles which are now practically drained of rinsing fluid, are then forced into a row of conveyor pockets preparatory to a soaking operation.

A further object of my invention is to provide a bottle turning trough carrying a pivoted plate upon which the bottom of the bottles rest and said plate, in a rocking movement of the trough, will tilt upwardly to guide the bottles in said trough.

With the above and other objects in view, which will appear as the description proceeds, the invention resides in the novel construction, combination and arrangement of parts, substantially as hereinafter described, and more particularly defined by the appended claims, it being understood that such changes in the precise embodiment of the herein disclosed invention may.

be made as come within the scope of the claims. In the accompanying drawings is illustrated one complete example of the physical embodiment of the present invention constructed according to the best mode so far devised for the practical application of the principles thereof.

In the drawings: Figure 1 represents a side elevation of the feed end of the bottle washer showing features of my invention.

Figure 2 is an enlarged fragmentary longitu dinal sectional view through the bottle washer taken on the line 22 of Figure 4, looking in the direction of the arrows.

Figure 3 is a detail fragmentary longitudinal sectional view similar to Figure 2, but showing the bottle turning plate in its raised position for receiving a row of bottles.

Figure 5 is a detail fragmentary transverse sectional view taken through the machine on the line 5-5 of Figure 2, looking in the direction of the arrows, illustrating the rail for initially receiving a row of bottles and the supporting plate for the bottles.

Figure 6 is a fragmentary horizontal sectional view taken on the line 66 of Figure 3, looking in the direction of the arrows illustrating the bottle supporting plate and the bottle turning trough. Figure '1 is a fragmentary transverse sectional view through the machine taken on the line 1-'| of Figure 2, looking in the direction of the arrows illustratingthe bottle turning trough and the means for facilitating the ejection of the bottles from the turning trough to the discharge trough.

Referring to the drawings in detail, wherein similar reference characters designate corresponding parts throughout the several views, the numeral I indicates the feed end of a housing having mounted therein an endless conveyor 2 carrying rows of bottle holding pockets 3. The conveyor is supported upon'a suitable track and is driven in any desired way.

The housing has mounted therein a rock shaft 4 carrying an'arm 5 in link connection with a fingered ejector 6 normally aligned with one row of pockets 3, whereby the ejector fingers enter the mouths of the bottles and discharge the bottles from the pockets after a soaking operation onto an endless discharge conveyor 1. All of these parts are of standard construction and form no part of my present invention. Only sufficient parts of the bottle washing machine are shown and described to permit an understanding of my invention to be had.

In the upper front corner of the housing is mounted a cam shaft 8 in belt-drive connection with a motor 9 through which shaft and associated parts power or drive is imparted to all mechanism. The shaft 8 extends through the side walls of the housing and has secured thereto a cam H] having a cam groove l l.

A cam arm I2 is rockably mounted upon a shaft is and said arm carries a roller l4 received in the cam groove H, as best shown in Figure 1 of the drawings.

The front end of the housing is provided with the usual bottle inlet mouth l5. Pivotally mounted adjacent to the bottom of the feed mouth I5 is a normally stationary guide and bottle supporting -erating means for the bridge piece 3 3 rail 5%, provided with suitable partitions for the reception of a row of bottles.

As best shown in Figures 1 and 2 of the drawings, the rail i6 is made yieldable under abnormal pressure and hence is provided with an arm ii attached thereto at the pivot point thereof. A coil sprin i8 is secured to the outer end of the arm 3'! and to the housing and normally holds the rail against movement. However, the rail can ield under the tension of the coil spring in the event that jamming cf the bottles upon the rail develops.

The housing has journaled therein a squared rock shaft i9, adjacent to the rail I6 and secured to said shaft is a suitably partitioned bottle turning trough 2d, the same being provided with the slots 2i in its bottom face, as best illustrated in Figures 2, 3, 4 and '7 of the drawings.

The turning trough adjacent to the shaft W has pivoted thereto a bottle supporting plate 22, which plate extends under the rail it and its free end is slidably supported upon a transverse ly extending guide rod 23.

, The free or inner end of the bottle turning trough is provided with a perforated bottle checking or stop strip 24 and, as illustrated, particularly in Figures 2, 3 and a of the drawings, the turning trough when in its normal position of rest is-inclined downwardly. The perforated stop or checking strip 2%, is disposed in front of e an apertured spray pipe 25, when the bottle turning trough is in its lowered downwardly inclined position, as best shown in Figure 2. This pipe 25 carries an angle iron strip 26 and secured to and'supported by this strip is a horizontally disposed guttered discharge trough 23, provided with a series of partitions 29 therein, whereby runways are formed for a series of bottles of any size. As shown, the inner end of the discharge trough 28 is in alignment with one row of conpiece 3i arepivotally connected to rocker arms S4,.which rocker arms are keyed or otherwise fastened to a transversely extending shaft 'journaled in the side walls of the housing. The

above described mechanism all refers to the travel of bottles from the mouth [5 of the housing to a row of conveyor pockets 3, whereby loading of the bottles on the conveyor 2 is eiiected. The or)- i and the turning trough 2i), etc., will be later described. In aloading operation, it is apparent, as illustrated in Figure '2'of the drawings, thatla row of bottles (indicated; in dotted lines) is inserted in the housing through the mouth against the rail it with their bottoms resting upon the plate and in itsfupwardswing, theroc'king bottom I I plate 22 carried by the turning trough will move under andinward of the rail !6 and the forward end thereof will lower'andtheo'uter orfree end 4 r 7 thereof will be raised and the bottles will be caused to fall into the bottle turning trough 20 (see Figure 3). In the next step, the bottle turning trough will swing downwardly to its normal position of rest, as indicated in full lines in Figure 2. In this downward swing, the row or bottles carried by the trough will slide toward the bottle checking or stop strip 24 and the mouths of the bottles will be aligned with the apertures in the strip and the spray openings of the pipe 25. At this time, liquid will be supplied to the pipe rs and jets of rinsing liquid will be discharged into the bottles so that the bottles will be thoroughly pro-rinsed during their loading travel.

In the next operation, the rocker arms 34 and fingers so of the bridge piece 3|, will move upwardly, whereby the fingers will pass through the slots in the trough 2i] and lift the row of bottles upwardly and position the same over the adjacent end of the horizontal bottle discharge trough 28 and said row of bottles will then slide into the trough 28 and come to rest upon the bottom of said trough.

As shown in Figures 2 and 4 of the drawings, thG bOttOlll of the dicharge trough 28 is provided with a series of longitudinally extending slots for the reception of tongues or fingers 36 extending from legs 3?. These legs are'keyed or otherwise securedto a rock shaft 38-journaled in the walls of the housing. 7

To complete the bottle loading movement, when the row of bottles, as indicated in'dotted lines in Figure 2, is resting upon the floor of the trough it, the discharge legs 3? with their, associated fingers or tongues 36 move from left to right in an arc of a circle, whereby the tongues or fingers 3% will enter the trough slots and engage the rear ends or the bottoms of the bottles to cause them to be discharged into a row of conveyor pockets 3.

The lever mechanism for actuating the bottle turning trough 2t and associated parts, as best indicated in Figure l of the drawings, includes a lever 2-9 secured to oneend of the rock shaft 19. fhe lever 39 is connected bya link 46 to theextreme upper end of an arm 45 and this'arm 4| in turn is connected intermediate itsends by a link $2, to one arm of a bell crank lever 43. The

i bell crank lever 33 is secured to and'mounted upon oneend of the shafts, which shaft'intcrmediate itsen'ds carries the ejector'm'ech'anisin arms '5. Motion is imparted to the bell crank lever 43 by'a rod M in pivotal connection with one arm of the bell'crank t3 and the cam 'actuated arm 52'.

sicn of its spring, when thelinlr=isnioiiedinwardly. The periphery of the cain It has extending therefrom a' cam shoe or lobe ifi, which shoe in its rotation engages a roller 58 carried by the crank arm 33, whereby said crank armahd its connections will actuate the link and the valve. A the time, the mouths of the bottles are'in alignment with the apertures or" the pipe Eifthe valve 45 will be open'and Water will be sprayed into the bottles. H

Tooperate the bridge 'piece 3| and'itsfingei's 38 the shaft 8 can be-provided with a-camtl.

The cam 5| is on the opposite end of the shaft 8 from the cam I0 and this cam 51 actuates an arm 52 rockably mounted upon the shaft IS. The arm 52 actuates a rock shaft 53 through the medium of a link 54 pivoted to the arm 52 and a crank 55 secured to the rock shaft 53. A second crank 56 is secured to the rock shaft 53 and this crank 56 is operatively connected to the shaft 35 by means of a link 51. The link 51 is pivotally connected to the crank 56 and to a crank 58 secured to the shaft 35. At the proper time, the crank 56 will be operated and the arms 34 will be raised and the fingers 30 will perform their function of elevating the bottles in the bottle turnin trough 20 to cause the bottles to slide into the trough 28.

From the fcregoing description, it can be seen that a novel mechanism is provided for insuring the proper delivery of a row of bottles to a row of pockets in a bottle conveyor.

Changes in details may be made without departing from the spirit or the scope of this invention but what is claimed as new is:

I claim:

1. In a bottle washing machine, a bottle delivery mechanism including a horizontally disposed discharge trough, a bottle turning slotted trough "pivoted above the discharge trough, a bottle supporting oscillatory plate in pivotal crank connection with the axis of the bottle turning trough, a fixed guide rod for supporting the free end of the oscillatory plate, whereby a bottle may be seated on the plate, cam controlled lever actuating means for rocking the bottle turning trough upward upon its axis, whereby the free end of the oscillatory plate is lifted upwardly upon its guide rod to cause the bottle to be tilted backwardly into the bottle turning trough, the said bottle turning trough being thereafter rocked down- 6 wardly to a bottle discharging position relative to the discharge trough, and cam controlled lever actuated fingers movable in the slots of the bottle turning trough to deliver a bottle into the discharge trough.

2. In a machine of the character described, a bottle delivery mechanism therefor, comprising a fixed. rail adapted to support a bottle, a bottle turning trough pivoted in juxtaposition to the rail, a supporting plate positioned under said rail and in pivotal connection with the trough, the said pivotal connection being offset from the trough axis, and a guide for the free end of the plate, whereby when the trough is oscillated towards the rail, the supporting plate will be tilted upwardly, whereby the bottle is shifted backwardly into the aforesaid trough.

FREDERICK H. FRUHLING.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,090,855 Jagenberg Mar. 24, 1914 1,775,003 Soelch Sept. 2, 1930 1,831,351 I-lipp-enmeyer Nov. 10, 1931 ,859,238 Gruetter May 17, 1932 1,881,961 Perkins Oct. 11, 1932 1,910,958 Meyer et al. May 23, 1933 1,940,647 Gruetter Dec. 19, 1933 2,073,945 Risser Mar. 16, 1937 2244, Parsons June 3, 1941 2,340,465 Gerlach Feb. 1, 1944 2,371,140 Ailing 1 Mar. 13, 1945 2,413,767 Hyde Jan. 7, 1947 

